


Question

by useyourtelescope



Category: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Future Fic, Marriage Proposal, Post-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25358452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/useyourtelescope/pseuds/useyourtelescope
Summary: Max wanted to take his time to plan his proposal to Zoey. He would have liked for it to be a moment to remember, one that takes her by surprise.Too bad his heart song keeps trying to give him away.
Relationships: Max Richman & Mo, Zoey Clarke/Max Richman
Comments: 13
Kudos: 42
Collections: Just Married Exchange 2020





	Question

**Author's Note:**

  * For [innie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/innie/gifts).



> Your selected tags & prompt of 'certainty' immediately sparked this idea. I really hope you enjoy the fic!
> 
> Many thanks to my beta htbthomas.

“Ooh, I know that look!”

Max had been kneeling on the floor of the apartment, trying to pick up the popcorn Zoey had just spilled when he startled at Mo’s exclamation. Mo’s eyes were dancing, seemingly in Max’s general direction, so he gestured to himself. 

“Not you, Maxwell,” Mo answered his unasked question. “Zoey!”

“Me?” Zoey said hesitantly. She had been sliding the few bits of popcorn left on the couch into the bowl in Max’s hands but seemed to have been stopped by the force of Mo’s words as well. She was smiling, but her exuberance from only moments before when she’d been defending the merits of her movie choice to Mo had been replaced by a more neutral, cautious expression. It would have fooled a lot of people, but not her two best friends.

“What’s wrong?” Max asked. 

“Nothing!” 

Max didn’t buy it, and it seemed Mo remained unconvinced too, as he said, “It was a bad song then?” 

“Oh, you heard a heart song?” Max realized.

“Was it the lady upstairs lamenting to her birds again?” Mo asked. “Or was it the new guy?“ Considering they didn’t live in the same building as Mo anymore, it always surprised Max how much Mo remembered about their neighbors. Then again, Mo was their most frequent guest.

“It was nobody,” Zoey insisted. “There was no heart song.”

“I’m pretty sure there was a heart song,” Mo said confidently. “Max, don’t you think so?”

“I didn’t notice anything,” Max admitted. He thought he had gotten better at noticing the tells but hadn’t seen anything unusual this evening. One minute Zoey had been gushing over The Terminator—quite adorably in his opinion, even though (perhaps partly because) her animated hand gestures had resulted in her knocking over the popcorn—and the next they’d been clearing up the movie snack from the couch and floor. 

“Right, because there was nothing to notice,” Zoey said definitively. She grabbed the popcorn bowl confidently before standing up. “I think we’ve got everything. Max, can you help me make some more please?” 

She ushered Max into the kitchen with unusual speed, but he still wasn’t suspicious until he was tearing open another bag of popcorn kernels and heard Zoey behind his shoulder, her voice careful. “Max?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not...worried about anything, are you?”

He reminded her that he was still trying to get to the root of the problem with a bug in the new game his team was developing, but he turned around in time to see her shaking her head.

“I know, I didn’t mean work stuff. I mean...us.” Zoey said, twisting her hands together. “I thought things were good with us.”

Now Max was floored. They’d had a fairly rocky road to starting their relationship—first, Zoey had been unsure of her feelings, and then just as he thought she might be interested in going down that road Mitch had passed away. Even though they’d known it was coming, it was hard to think about a romantic relationship while processing that—for both of them. Max knew his grief would never compare to Zoey’s, but Mitch had been a father figure to him and it had been hard to see past that for a while. But he had done his best to be there for Zoey as a friend during that time and after a few months they’d both finally been ready to turn their friendship into a relationship, and as far as Max was concerned, things had been good since then. That wasn’t to say it had always been easy. They had some quibbles, especially after they started living together, like forgetting to do the laundry (him) or leaving pieces from deconstructed gadgets around the place (Zoey), and of course the days of certain anniversaries were hard, but there hadn’t been anything he thought they couldn’t handle together. He had never felt _worried_ about them — at least he hadn’t been until she said that. “I thought things were _great_ with us,” he replied, unable to stop his voice from rising.

Zoey looked visibly relieved, her tight grip on the sleeves of her sweater loosening. “So, you’re happy?”

“Yes, of course I’m happy, Zoey. Why would—” Max blinked as he put the pieces together. “Zoey, did I just sing a heart song?”

She let out a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, you did.”

“What was it?”

“Let’s Stay Together.”

Any remaining tension Max had felt disappeared. He had started to worry that his heart was somehow registering concerns that his conscious mind hadn’t yet recognized, but the Al Green classic didn’t sound like a bad thing to him. But, he realized with a frown, it had to Zoey. “Why did you think that was bad?”

“You remember when Joan and Leif were...an item?”

“I think you have to be a little more official than they were to be considered an item.”

“Exactly!” Her enthusiasm confused him, until Zoey explained, “That was a heart song Leif sang to Joan when he wasn’t sure where they stood. And it made me wonder if…” Zoey trailed off, looking almost sheepish.

“What?” Max said, now growing amused. “I was worried you weren’t serious about me? I hate to break it to you Zo, but I think most people would consider thirteen months of exclusively dating a bit of a step up from whatever Leif and Joan were doing. Especially when we have been living together for the last 5—which, need I remind you, was your idea. So, if you were planning on letting me down easy, you’re going to need a Terminator-style time travel device.”

He was grinning by the time he finished, and she clearly couldn’t help but return his smile.

“Max,” she said, only half-successful at sounding serious.

“Zoey,” he replied, matching her tone. “I am positively, one hundred percent sure about us.”

He was pleased to see the tension drain from her shoulders. “Me too.” Her smile was more restrained this time, but unlike the one she had flashed in the living room, it was genuine. The little soft look only he got to see was his favorite. 

“I know, Zoey,” he said.

She gave him a peck on the lips before moving to pick up the bag of popcorn kernels he had abandoned. He would have liked to have lingered for a more reassuring kiss, but since they had a guest it would have to wait until later. 

“That doesn’t explain the heart song though,” she noted, starting on the new batch of popcorn.

“I guess I must have just been thinking about how much I love you and my heart started singing about how I want us to keep being together.”

“You started singing after I spilled popcorn,” she said. “Not exactly a romantic moment.”

“But you’re so cute when you talk about the Terminator films.”

Zoey rolled her eyes, but he could tell from the flush to her cheeks that she was starting to believe him. “I guess it caught me off guard to hear you sing one again. It’s been a while.”

That was true. There had been a few in the early months of their relationship, and Max had found it occasionally frustrating that it seemed like Zoey knew his thoughts just as he’d started to appreciate them himself, while Zoey had been annoyed that it seemed like he didn’t trust her, which was not the case. He’d eventually realized that after all the complications of keeping his feelings from her in the early days, followed by not wanting to burden her with his new job woes in the aftermath of Mitch passing away, he wasn’t talking to her about the things that were bothering him, even though he wanted to. Once they’d talked about it, it became a non-issue; Zoey didn’t have to learn what was on his mind through song when he had already told her willingly. 

“Do you mind?” he asked. If there wasn’t an underlying factor, it didn’t bother Max to occasionally belt out a love song or two to his girlfriend, even if he did have a strange curiosity about his performances. 

“Not as long as it doesn’t interrupt us having sex again.”

Max opened his mouth to remind Zoey that that had not happened more than three times, when another voice rang out from the living room, carrying through the open kitchen door, “I’m still here, you know!”

It wasn’t long before Max returned to the living room carrying a newly full bowl of popcorn towards Mo. “We can start the movie soon, Zoey’s just gone to the bathroom—”

Mo waved his hand, ignoring Max’s words and the proffered bowl of popcorn to say, “Boy, first things first—tell me you did not already choose an engagement ring without coming to me for help.”

Max nearly dropped the bowl, mouth agape.

“Are you or are you not planning to propose to Miss Zoey Clarke?” Mo’s voice rose with irritation at Max’s silence.

Max looked over his shoulder to make sure Zoey hadn’t returned before admitting, “I’ve been thinking about proposing.” His mouth was somewhat dry from saying the words aloud for the first time.—Well, not quite. He had been able to tell Mitch that he was serious about Zoey, but back then it had been something he’d been hoping for one day in the future. It was only in the last month or so that Max had started to feel like it was a near reality, something they were both ready for. 

“How do you know?” Max asked.

“‘Let’s Stay Together’!”

“Just how much of our conversation did you hear?”

“I don’t like your tone Maxwell, it’s not my fault you two talk so loud and don’t know how to close a door properly. Besides, how much more obvious can you be? ‘ _Loving you forever is what I need? I want to spend my life with you?’ ”_

Max had forgotten the detail of some of the lyrics but Mo’s reminder brought them right back. “It wasn’t obvious to Zoey.”

“The things that girl doesn’t know about music, I swear to God—” Mo stopped and closed his eyes before taking a long inhale.

Whatever else Mo might have thought about Zoey’s music knowledge—still not significantly improved after nearly two years of her gift—had to be cut short when Zoey returned. Max could tell Mo was distracted because he stopped arguing his case for the film he wanted to watch and let Zoey put The Terminator on. Max felt pretty distracted himself, despite liking the movie, and found himself making an excuse to Zoey at the end of the night that Mo had left something behind, so he could dash after him, managing to catch up when he was only a few steps outside their apartment building.

“Mo, do you think it’s a bad sign that Zoey didn’t recognize what the song meant?”

“Max, If I had a dollar for every song Zoey didn’t know I would be too rich to walk down this street.” Before Max could elaborate, Mo continued, “I would _glide_. On my hoverboard.”

“Mo, did you make a Back to The Future reference?” Max said approvingly, a smile spreading over his face despite his worries.

“This is what you and Zoey have done to me,” Mo said disdainfully. 

Max explained his concern was less about Zoey’s interpretation of the song, and more her interpretation of where their relationship was at. “I mean, I’m thinking about proposing and Zoey still thinks that we’re uncertain.”

“ _Does_ she think that though?”

“Well, maybe not. But, she thinks that _I_ think we’re uncertain, or she considered that I might think it—"

“Okay, I can’t with that,” Mo interrupted. “Look, we both know Zoey is a worrier. Especially since Mitch. You sang a heart song she couldn't immediately explain and she leaped to the worst possible conclusion even though she had the evidence it wasn’t true. You just have to keep showing her why that isn’t the case."

Max nodded, taking this in. “So, you don’t think I have anything to worry about?”

“Oh, you absolutely do,” Mo said, his look turning from soft and reassuring to disappointed. “Boy, you’ve _just_ started thinking about proposing and you’re already singing heart songs to her. What’s next, ‘Marry You’ by Bruno Mars?”

Max’s face fell. “Even Zoey’s going to recognize that one.”

Mo nodded sadly before cocking his head in thought. “Though you might be more of a ‘Marry You’ by Train kind of guy.”

“You know, I think the Train song is called ‘Marry _Me’_.”

“I rest my case.”

* * *

Max wanted to believe the heart song had been a fluke. However, only three nights later, he was ringing Mo once Zoey had fallen asleep, whispering down the phone, “Mo, you were right.”

“Of course I was honey,” Mo replied easily. “But you’re gonna have to be more specific.”

“I sang to Zoey again.”

“Was it a repeat of ‘Let’s Stay Together’?”

“No, it was ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’.” When Zoey first mentioned exactly what he’d started singing while they were out shopping it hadn’t sounded too dangerous, but when Max had looked up the lyrics on his phone later he had discovered that there was in fact a reference to marriage. He must not have got that far into the song though since she hadn’t seemed to think it was concerning; she’d relayed the information in much more of an amused manner than the other night.

“And, let me guess, you tried to tell Zoey that it was just because you love her so much it’s coming out in your heart song?”

Max paused. “How did you know?”

“You’re so predictable, Max. That said, knowing our Zoey, there’s a seventy-percent chance she believed you.”

“There might have been if I hadn’t panicked and started talking about how I also thought the couch was magic.”

“Hold up, your couch? That lumpy thing?”

“ _Hey_ ,” Max said on instinct, though it didn’t have much heat to it. The couch was the first thing he’d splashed out on with his first SPRQ Point paycheck all those years ago. His and Zoey’s place was mostly furnished with a mish-mash of items from their previous separate apartments, and they’d finally made some time this weekend to look for some new items. “It was a new couch, we were looking at furniture today.”

“Right right,” Mo said, remembering. “So, those fancy couches made you want to propose?”

When Mo said it like that, it didn’t seem particularly romantic, but Max had been excited for it. When they’d moved in together it had felt like a big step, but at the same time completely natural with how much time they were spending together. And buying furniture together was all part of planning for their future together so it clearly held symbolic meaning, which he tried to explain to Mo.

“That’s adorable,” Mo said, though his voice sounded like it held more disdain than amusement. “But if you’re going to burst into song over every little thing, you're going to need my help."

Max had barely agreed that Mo was right before Mo began listing, “First: we’ve gotta bring your timeline way forward.”

“I didn’t really have a timeline yet —”

“Exactly! And you’re already singing.”

“Okay, point taken. So, what, should I propose tomorrow?” Max said, feeling his pulse quicken at the thought. He might be sure about proposing, but he needed a little more time to prepare what he was going to say. And where he was going to say it.

Mo immediately dismissed this. “You don’t have a ring, Max! First, you need to pick a ring.”

“You said the first thing was to bring the timeline forward.”

“First comes the ring! Then the proposal!”

They came up with the plan that evening. _First_ , Max would buy the ring. Then, he would try to spend as little time alone with Zoey as he could until he had decided on how he wanted to propose. 

The second part ended up being a lot harder than the first. 

Although Max had initially been overwhelmed by just how many options there were for ring designs, he was pretty happy with his choice. This was mainly thanks to Mo who, despite spending the first half-hour of ring shopping salivating over a selection that was way out of Max’s price range, eventually helped Max pick out a ring that felt exactly Zoey. 

But avoiding alone time with Zoey was hard. 

The obvious excuse was work. After getting fired from SPRQ Point Max had managed to find a job managing a team of coders at a video game company, which he enjoyed, but sometimes required late nights when they had a big deadline. Zoey was completely understanding whenever this happened since she had the same thing at SPRQ Point, and if they both had deadlines at the same time they would end up seeing very little of each other until one of the projects was complete. But although saying he had a new deadline was easy and Zoey obviously believed him, Max didn’t enjoy doing it. Staying late in the office was pretty boring when he didn’t actually have a looming deadline to distract him and filling his time with searching for proposal ideas online only reminded Max how much he would rather just be at home with his girlfriend—hopefully, very soon, his fiancee.

After one evening when his boss, a friendly-enough man who normally left Max to his own devices, expressed concern for Max’s consistent late nights Max decided to take a different approach. Surely spending more time with Zoey would be fine if they had other people around to distract, especially Mo who would easily spot the telltale signs of a stirring heart song. It wasn’t entirely without risk, but he didn’t want to spend that much time apart from Zoey, even if it was to keep the proposal a secret. 

“That’s cute,” Mo said when Max explained this while trying to convince him to double date with them. “A little pathetic, but cute.”

* * *

The sun was starting to set on Saturday evening as Zoey and Max walked in the park near their apartment. They had just driven back from dinner with Maggie, David, Emily, and baby Liam—not so much a baby anymore, and looking more like Zoey’s father every day—but before they could head inside Max had suggested they take a walk in the park.

It was a nice evening for it. The park was quiet, and though it was starting to get dark it was still warm enough that her thin jacket was all that was needed to ward off the light breeze. Zoey rested her head against Max’s shoulder, her fingers intertwined with his, as they walked towards the walled area of the garden. It was the area of the park they most frequented so she assumed that was where they were headed, even if neither of them had said so. Come to think of it, Zoey realized, Max was quieter than usual as they walked this evening. Their constant discussions were something that hadn’t changed when they started dating, so it was unlike Max to have said so little since they had got out of the car—since they had said goodbye to her family, really. 

But, he had been busy with work recently and then this last week Mo had dragged them to some new event every night apart from the evening they had babysat for David and Emily so they could have a rare date night, which, as much as they both loved Liam, had probably been the most stressful evening at all. She could understand why he might want a little quiet to decompress now. Zoey enjoyed it herself, feeling like she was relaxing more. Her family had been through so much the last few years, she was enjoying the peaceful feeling she had ever since she let Max fully completely into her life and her heart. And though the loss of her father had never gone away, there was comfort in being happy, finding joy in the important relationships that had come after, like the way her relationship with Max had changed and her nephew Liam. 

In the distance, Zoey saw a child running away from his parents and the dad struggling to catch up to his speedy son.

Zoey laughed, the image reminding her of a very familiar sight. “Isn't that just like David and Liam?” she asked. When Max remained silent, she lifted her head from her shoulder to look at her boyfriend; he was gazing in the right direction, but his eyes had a faraway look about them. “Max?” 

“Yes?” he said, looking down at her intently now, but with obviously no idea of what she had said.

“Is everything okay?” she wondered. Sometimes they were both in more of a somber mood after returning from family dinner, memories of Mitch giving them more to reflect on afterward, but Zoey thought today had been quite upbeat, celebrating her mom’s success with a recent client that was opening even more doors for her business. Liam had been on entertaining form as well, her nephew's antics making them all laugh. 

“Yes, of course,” he replied, but the expression on his face was tight. 

Before she could call him on it, Max suddenly took a step to the side, taking her hand as he spun around to face her and began to sing.

_She woke from a dream_

_Her head was on fire_

_Why was he so nervous?_

Why was he so nervous—that was a good question, Zoey thought. 

_He took her to the park_

_She crossed her arms_

_And lowered her eyelids_

The lyrics made Zoey instinctively look down at herself even though she knew her arms were loose, one hand securely between Max’s fingers while the other was at her side, tugging down the sleeve of her jacket. His gaze was so intent that she struggled to keep it. 

A glance around them confirmed no one else was joining in with this number; there was hardly anyone to join. It was just them, the trees and the sky. 

_Someday somebody's gonna ask you_

_A question that_

_You should say "yes" to_

_Once in your life_

_Maybe tonight_

_I've got a question for you_

Zoey couldn’t hold back a gasp as Max, still holding onto her hand, got down on one knee. 

_She'd had no idea_

_Started to cry,_

_She said in a good way_

_He took her by the hand_

_Walked her back home_

_They took the long way_

_Someday somebody's gonna ask you_

_A question that_

_You should say "yes" to_

_Once in your life_

_Maybe tonight_

_I've got a question for you_

* * *

Max took a deep breath as he looked deep into Zoey’s eyes. He’d decided that simple would be best and after a nice afternoon with the Clarke family he was fully confident it was the right decision, although his pulse was still pounding as he got onto one knee. “Zoey,” he began, voice raspy with nerves.

“Yes!” she blurted out. 

He blinked. “Huh?”

“Yes, my answer’s yes,” Zoey said, excitement shining through her face as her hand squeezed his.

“But...I haven’t asked you yet?”

“Right,” she clapped her free hand over her mouth and started laughing.

“I just sang a heart song to you, didn’t I?”

Zoey nodded. 

It was a good thing Max’s hands were occupied, his left clutched around the ring box in his pocket, his right holding onto Zoey’s, or he would have slapped a palm across his face. “I’m sorry, I’ve ruined the proposal”

“No! You haven’t ruined anything—do what you were going to do.”

“But now you already know.”

“No, look, my powers are not going to spoil this for us,” she said. He noticed her eyes looked slightly watery and Zoey was waving her hand in front of her face, in that way she did when she tried to distract from the emotion she was feeling; he realized he wasn't the only one who might be disappointed not to be able to do a traditional proposal. 

“Zoey, are you upset?”

“No.” She shook her head. “These are good tears. I promise.” Zoey sounded genuine, but to his surprise she followed up her statement by bursting into laughter.

“So, it’s funny?” Max said, growing more confused. 

“No, no—you said that in the song. ‘ _She started to cry—but in a good way’_.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, I guess I’ll never know what my actual proposal was.”

“I’ll find it,” Zoey said, reaching for her phone, before dropping it back into her pocket almost immediately. “Later, I’ll find it later!”

Max couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculous situation. “You’re really sure?”

Zoey nodded so fast her hair bounced in waves around her. “I am. I love you, Max. Now, hurry up and ask me your question.”

Max smiled so wide Zoey could see his dimples. The speech he’d prepared seemed unimportant now, so he said the only part that mattered. “Zoey Clarke, I love you so much. Will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

The kiss that followed soon turned from sweet and tender into one unsafe for public consumption; the couple giggled as they abandoned their walk to return to their thankfully nearby apartment. The high of being engaged meant it wasn’t until they were indoors that Max paused to reflect, “You know, I can’t believe I went to all that effort to keep the proposal a secret and still managed to give it away.”

“Oh, you did not manage to keep it a secret,” Zoey said, even as she pushed him onto their bed and moved to straddle his lap. 

“I didn’t?” Max said, his head moving away from her lips in confusion.

“The last couple of weeks you might have sung a few more songs that I did not mention,” Zoey said, smiling. Her lips pursed, clearly waiting for another kiss, but he needed more information first.

“I did? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well, when I realized you wanted to propose, I didn’t want to ruin your surprise. Plus, it was kind of nice,” she admitted, shrugging one shoulder as if it wasn’t a big deal, even though the soft smile on her face suggested otherwise. “I liked hearing you sing to me again.”

Max returned her soft look, nuzzling her nose as he decided they should start going to karaoke more often. “What songs did I sing? Do you remember?”

“I do,” Zoey replied, and then immediately flushed. Their eyes locked at the words, so ordinary and yet now so heavy. “Can we talk about them after we’ve had we just got engaged sex?”

“Sure,” Max said, immediately going back in for another kiss. As enjoyable as it was, however, his distraction was evident.

“You really want to know what the other songs are don’t you?” Zoey said, pulling away.

“I’m sorry, I really do.”

But she looked amused rather than annoyed as she got up to grab her phone. A moment later Zoey was turning her screen towards him, revealing a surprisingly long list. 

“You took notes?” he asked, moving to sit upright against the headrest as Zoey flung her legs over his lap.

“Well, your whole suggestion that the songs were just about how much you loved me was very sweet, but we know the common factor in my powers is that I hear people’s heart songs when they aren’t saying the things they really want to,” Zoey explained. “And as you’ve had no problem telling me how much you love me since we got together I thought there was more to it than that.”

“And how long before you figured out I wanted to propose?”

“Only another two songs after the furniture store, but I decided to keep a list of what all of them were.”

Reading over her shoulder, Max’s brow furrowed at one of the first songs on the list “‘From this Moment On’,” he read aloud, thinking for a second. “Did I sing Shania Twain to you?”

“Actually it was a song from an old musical—I typed the lyrics into google,” Zoey said.

“Aha!” Max said, spotting another song further down. “I did sing ‘Marry You’!”

“Yeah, if I had not figured it out before that it definitely would have made—what are you doing?” Zoey wondered as Max took out his phone and positioned it in front of hers.

“I just need to send this to Mo.”

“That’s what you need to do? _Right now_?” she said.

“I’ll explain later,” Max said, hitting send.

“It’s going to be a while later if you sent Mo that photo,” Zoey pointed out, her hands already moving to return her blouse to its normal position after the neckline had slipped.

“What do you mean?”

“You can see my hand in that,” she said, shaking it to draw his attention to the engagement ring. 

Sure enough, one second later Max’s phone lit up with a video call request. 

“ _Ah_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Max’s mentioned heart songs:  
> Let’s Stay Together - Al Green  
> Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police  
> From This Moment On - Cole Porter, from **Kiss Me Kate**  
>  Marry You - Bruno Mars  
> Question - Old 97’s ([Listen here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-5oLJkUSjA))


End file.
